


HiJack Week June 2017

by EavingMal



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: HiJack Week June 2017, Hijack, M/M, prompts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-16 20:04:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11259990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EavingMal/pseuds/EavingMal
Summary: Compilation of writings from HiJack Week this year.





	1. "I'm So Putting That Online"

Jack was on his phone again. Hiccup sighed, and picked up another slice of pizza. He was not going to mention it. He had promised himself he wouldn’t mention it.

Jack lifted the phone up, with a cheeky grin, and Hiccup brought his hands up to shield his face.

“Jack!” he complained.

Jack rolled his bright blue eyes. “Hic. C’mon … I promise I won’t post it!”

Hiccup sighed. “Alright. Promise, though!”

Jack put a hand on his chest and lifted his eyes to the ceiling. “I solemnly promise, by all I hold dear, may you set Aster upon my sorry hide if I am lying, that I will not post any photographs of you online without your direct and explicit permission.”

Hiccup shrugged, bit into his pizza and looked up at Jack with raised eyebrows, meant to simulate being caught out by the photo.

Jack chuckled, the camera made a shutter noise, and Hiccup had to put a hand under his pizza to stop the toppings falling off the edge before he managed to finish his bite.

“Now, are you going to actually watch the movie?” Hiccup teased – or at least he tried to. His voice was light, but really he just wished Jack would put down the damn phone and quote cheesy lines with him like they’d talked about while choosing the title on Netflix.

“Heh. Sorry.” Jack put the phone down, face down on the couch next to him and reached for the pizza.

They chuckled at the movie for a while. The pizza disappeared. Hiccup took off his left leg and lay down on Jack, head resting on Jack’s chest, one of Jack’s hands tangled in his hair.

The movie finished, but neither of them wanted to move, so they chose another movie and stayed on the couch for a while.

Jack checked his phone precisely once, then put it on the floor, pushing it away from the couch. He patted Hiccup on the head.

“I know, I know. Out of temptation’s way.”

Hiccup twisted his head up so he could kiss Jack on the cheek – or far enough up the chin to count, at any rate. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you,” Jack said.

 

~

 

Hiccup and Jack waited for the bus on the way to the museum. Jack snapped a picture of the angry red sign telling them that their bus was still ten minutes away, and Hiccup sighed. “Does anyone really care about that?”

Jack looked at Hiccup, surprised. “Does it matter?”

Hiccup shrugged. “I guess not. It’s your account.”

Jack snapped another picture, and started typing a caption. “I can’t put a picture of you online, so I guess my followers will have to settle for the bus stop sign.”

Hiccup looked away. “Are you telling them that you’re on a date?”

“Just that you and I are going to a museum,” Jack said. “Nothing about dates, I promise. Don’t get so antsy!”

Jack’s tone was light, but there were months of arguments lurking under that comment.

“Sorry. I’ll stop asking,” Hiccup said, pushing his hair behind one ear. “We’ll just … wait for the bus.”

Jack nudged his shoulder with an elbow. “I’m just saying, I promised not to post certain things online, so you don’t have to keep checking up on me. Even if I do have some truly amazing photos of you on this thing.” He waved the phone, grinning.

Hiccup knew exactly what kind of photos were on that little device. “I swear one of these days I’m getting you drunk and deleting every one of those photos.”

Jack snorted. “Not likely. You’re a lightweight, Mr Viking Blood Runs In My Veins.”

“We agreed that never happened,” Hiccup told Jack, traitorous face turning beet red.

“Pretty sure I have proof on the phone,” Jack said.

“All the more reason,” Hiccup said.

They waited. The bus was five minutes away, then three, then seven, then five again. Hiccup played a game on his phone while Jack texted.

After a while, Hiccup idly looked up and realised that Jack’s phone screen was blank. He was only pretending to text.

“Jack?” Hiccup asked. “Something wrong?”

Jack sighed. “Hiccup … you love me, right?”

Hiccup stared. “Jack? Of course I do! What’s wrong?”

Jack pushed his hair back from his forehead and tucked his phone in his pocket. “Sorry. I know – I know. I shouldn’t have asked. It’s just …”

Hiccup waited for Jack to explain.

“I just … whenever we’re in private, it’s amazing. It’s everything I always wanted to be. And when we’re with friends, you’re great. But … in public, you don’t even hold my hand. I can’t post photos of us together. We aren’t ‘Facebook official’, and I can’t mention that I’m dating anyone … I know why you don’t like it. It just bugs me.”

Hiccup nodded slowly. He knew – he had always known. Jack lived online, and he wasn’t ashamed of anything. Hiccup used to think he spent too much time on social media, but he barely ever posted anything of his own. Jack was one of those people who seemed to document everything. He was the only person Hiccup had ever known who unironically Instagrammed his brunch. He did know it bothered Jack that there was something he had to censor, something he had to hide. Jack had made it clear from the start – he was a bad liar, and he hated hiding. Hiccup could absolutely confirm both points. Of course it was going to bother Jack that Hiccup was so shy about everything online.

But Hiccup had learned early in life what happened when he let people see too much of his private life, and he wasn't exactly eager to repeat that experience. Things were better these days, but, well ... some habits died hard.

“I see,” Hiccup said. He fiddled with his fringe. “Well … sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Jack said. “I’m sorry I brought this up. I didn’t want to spoil this trip. I know you’ve been looking forward to this exhibit for months.”

“You haven’t ruined anything,” Hiccup said. “But how about we talk about it later, alright?”

 

~

 

All conversations were forgotten as they finally reached the museum. Hiccup was practically vibrating as they waited in line. Jack chuckled, and took pictures of the opening signs, and the ‘no cameras beyond this point’ sign, with a wink to Hiccup.

Hiccup rushed to the first room. He was sure that Jack wasn’t nearly so interested in early civilisations and their agricultural tools as he was, but Jack didn’t seem to mind, letting Hiccup read him all the signs on the glass cases. Jack insisted on pushing the buttons in the interactive exhibits, though.

At the other end, as they ate overpriced but tasty sandwiches from the museum café on the lawn, watching children play on the educational playground.

They sat in contented silence for a while, then Hiccup took a deep breath. “Hey, Jack,” he said.

“Hm?”

Jack’s eyes widened as Hiccup rested his head on Jack’s shoulder, and held his phone up. “Selfie?”

Jack kissed Hiccup’s forehead quickly, then smiled for the camera.

Hiccup turned the phone around so he could see how it had turned out.

It was a great photo of them. He was smiling sheepishly – nearly coquettishly. Jack’s expression could only be described as “beaming”. Their heads were together, Jack’s pale skin contrasting with his freckles.

“Aw,” Jack said, looking over Hiccup’s shoulder. “That’s so cute!”

Hiccup started to click over to his Facebook app. “It’s a great photo. You know what?”

“What?”

“I’m so putting that online.”


	2. Single Parents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack learns to balance being a single father and having a life of his own.

They say “it takes a village to raise a child”. Jack wholeheartedly believes this. He’d settle for having just one other person to help him, sometimes.

But that’s only sometimes. Jack has been a single parent for a long time, and he’s used to it by now.  He works from home, because being a parent is his ‘real’ job, and being a parent is more than full time.

It’s a balancing act – one he’s getting better at as Emma gets older and more able to entertain herself without him. For a while it was hard, being just a father and nothing else. Not Jack who loved to go out with friends after work – but only once a week because he had a family and that was important, too. Not Jack who loved going abseiling and rock climbing, whose Facebook page was full of him standing in full harness in front of the wall.

A child, when you’re a single parent, fills up everything. They expand to fill the space, and when you’re a parent, it feels right to give it all to them.

But you need to be a person as well as a parent, and Jack has learned that, while childhood is demanding, adulthood is flexible.

Adulthood fits between the gaps, in the cracks between other things.

Adulthood is letting go of the fear of Emma being out of sight while out at the park, while she plays with the huge black dog (bigger than she is, but so very gentle). He sits on the bench and holds hands with the dog’s owner, Hiccup, and they talk quietly and ignore anyone who might be staring at them.

 Adulthood fits in the text messages Jack sends while Emma has a friend over and they play board games while he drinks his afternoon coffee, pretending to watch them, but really trying to think of the funniest analogy for Hiccup’s annoying co-worker, to make Hiccup feel better after a long and difficult day.

Adulthood is trying not to laugh about the joke Hiccup made while Emma reads him a story she wrote at school, because the joke was not appropriate for children and he must keep a straight face.

Adulthood is waiting until Emma is asleep for phone calls, snatching moments online and in person, eyes rimmed with dark circles but looking forward to those hours of staying up past reason anyway.

 

~

 

The months pass. As Emma grows older, more and more of Jack’s adulthood seeps into the world they used to share, just the two of them.

Emma goes for a sleepover, and Jack invites Hiccup to dinner. He cleans the toys off the table for the first time in years. Hiccup brings food so Jack doesn’t have to cook (he loves cooking, but everyone, every adult, needs a break sometimes, and Hiccup knows this). Jack promises to make something next time, something fancy, and Hiccup smiles and plays along but they both know he’ll probably bring takeaway next time too, because he likes being Jack’s break from the world. They sit together on the couch and just talk, for hours longer than they meant to, unwrapping each other like gifts over a bottle of wine. They meant to do other things that night, but it didn’t seem to happen. They fall asleep on the couch together, so late the Jack is late to pick up Emma the next day.

Jack loves Hiccup. He thinks Emma will take it badly, at first – it’s a lot to get used to, and he doesn’t want her to think he’ll be there for her any less. But in the end, it is fine – Emma likes Hiccup, and more importantly, Emma loves Toothless almost as much as Hiccup himself does. Jack jokes that Toothless is their best tool for distracting Emma. It’s a joke, but he isn’t wrong.

Adulthood is flexible – it fits into the gaps. But it, like childhood, it, too, tries to fill the space available.

But Jack is good at balancing, and there is more than enough room for three.

 


	3. Touch/Affection Deprived

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack is invisible, but he has to be away from Hiccup to bring Winter.

Late June, and winter had spread South as far as it would go. Jack Frost rarely brought snow down here, but he did bring ice and frost. It was no snowball fight, but children waking in the morning, giggling as they jumped around on their lawns, grass crunching under their feet still brought a smile to Jack’s face. He lounged there for a while, watching them from the fence, as friends came around. One of the children used mittened fingers to  carefully pull the ice off a blade of grass, holding the perfect hollow ice mould of the grass blade in her hand. She gasped.

Jack chuckled at her expression, trying to squash down the tiny bit of resentment in his chest. He’d spent so long getting that right! And now she’d crushed it trying to look closer. None of the other children had even gotten there in time to see it.

He cautioned himself. If the child hadn’t picked it up, it would have just melted away in an hour. Maybe less.

The children were playing now, and Jack sighed and got up. They didn’t need him here today, and he wouldn’t be any fun if he was getting upset about a bit of ice like that. He stepped into the air and took off.

 

~

 

Jack flew until he could see the familiar thatch roofs, pointed high, carved wood crossbeams facing the sky. Dragons swooped around the island. It was nearing night – the days were short this far North this time of year, so short that it might have been said that it was nearing night as soon as the sun rose – and the only lights in the town were those in the houses as people readied for bed. Even the great dining hall was nearly dark, only a few pockets of light left to indicate private, late-night conversations.

Jack dropped in at the window first. Snotlout was sitting there talking to Fishlegs, but none of the others were anywhere to be seen. He cursed under his breath – he couldn’t be heard, and could have cursed louder, but once he had held out hope that he might one day be seen, and then he’d have to be in practice at swearing quietly so that the children could not hear him. He no longer held such hope, of course, but the habit had stuck.

He kicked a tree on the way up the hill to the Chief’s hut – that is, Hiccup’s hut.

There were no lights on at the hut – both Hiccup and Stoick were already in their separate beds, and apparently asleep, when Jack arrived and poked Hiccup in the shoulder with his stick.

“Mmrgh,” Hiccup said, and rolled over rubbing his eyes.

“Hey,” Jack hissed. “Hiccup! Hey!”

Hiccup tried to curl up further under the sheets, muttering something unintelligible to himself through the furs. Jack used the crook of his staff to pull the blankets back.

“Hey,” he said.

Hiccup squinted up at him. Or perhaps it was intended to be a glare. He was, after all, still half-asleep.

“Jack,” he said.

Jack grinned. “You don’t sound happy to see me.”

Hiccup sighed. “I’m never happy to see anyone. Town grump, that’s me. Especially at this hour of the night.”

“Aw, come on. It’s barely night,” Jack said. “You go night flying all the time!”

“I go night flying when I’m not tired,” Hiccup said. “And I am currently very, very tired.”

Jack made a noise in the back of his throat, and sat down, cross-legged, on the bed next to Hiccup. “C’mon, Hic, you might be at least a little happy to see me. I’ve been so excited to come back, and you just want to go to sleep?”

There was a pause. Hiccup looked up at Jack for a long time, until Jack started to get uncomfortable.

Then Hiccup thrust his arms out.

Jack raised an eyebrow. “What’s this.”

“You’re always like this when you get back from bringing Winter.”

Jack turned and slipped down into the furs beside Hiccup, letting Hiccup wrap his arms around him, snuggling back into the Viking’s chest.

“What do you mean, ‘like this’?” Jack asked.

Hiccup chuckled, the sound rumbling against Jack’s back. “You always come back all excited about something, then you pick a fight.”

“I do not,” Jack protested, but without any heart in it. He’d been in an odd mood for days, after all …

“I’ll ignore that you said that,” Hiccup said. “Feeling better now?”

Jack nestled his head into Hiccup’s pillow and held Hiccup’s wrist with one hand. He could swear he felt himself relaxing, all the strange frustration disappearing. “Yeah,” he murmured, half asleep himself now. “Better.”


	4. Band AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack plays guitar in E. Aster's garage. The new boy at the dorms notices. Hijack ensues.

“Again!” Aster said, tapping his drumstick on the metal rim of his drum.

Toothiana nodded, pushing her hair back from her face. Jack sighed and plucked at the guitar strings, practicing the part where he’d started to mess up quietly to himself before they started the song from the top.

Then Toothiana looked down at her watch. “Oh, shit! Sorry, boys, my class starts in fifteen minutes!” She started grabbing her stuff.

“That late already?” Aster asked, putting his drumsticks to one side. “Damn.”

Jack pulled off his guitar and started unclipping the strap. “Same time on Thursday?”

“I’ve got a date,” Aster said. “Friday?”

“Friday’s fine,” Tooth said. “Remember, we need picture evidence.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’ll get your bloody photos,” Aster grumbled. “Nosy little …”

Toothiana grinned. “Oh, you know me. I’m a romantic at heart.”

Jack glanced up. “Yeah. She’s a romantic. I’m just planning to embarrass you on the Internet.”

“Har, har, Frost,” Aster said. “I’m leaving the drums set up.”

He always said it, but it wasn’t like they ever took their instruments anywhere, or ever practiced anywhere other than in the garage.

Outside, a motorcycle went past. Jack clicked his guitar case shut and stretched. “Alright. Friday, everybody.”

 

~

 

Jack tapped his pen absently on his notepad for the third straight hour trying to get his homework done. His dorm room was small (there was a reason he kept his instrument in Aster’s garage), but at least his floor was relatively quiet.

Outside, he heard a motorbike.

At the moment, he’d take just about any excuse to not to concentrate on his essay for a moment longer, so he looked out the window.

Never had Jack been so grateful for a boring essay in his life. Underneath his window, a tall boy in all leather was taking off his helmet to reveal a shambles of brown hair, a few braids poking from under the back of his head. As Jack watched, he ruffled up the hair that had been flattened by his helmet, and turned to look at the towering dorm building. Jack’s room was only second storey, so he could see quite clearly the twinkle of metal in the boy’s mouth and nose, his bike-chain bracelets, the loose T-shirt under his open leather jacket.

Thank goodness he wasn’t looking up at the windows, Jack thought as he absently chewed the end of his pen. If he looked up at the window, Jack would have to stop looking and that would truly have been a shame.

The boy ruffled his hair again and made his way into the dorm, leaving his motorbike locked up out the front.

Damn.

Now Jack would have to get back to his essay.

 

~

 

Jack hoped that he might see this new boy at the dining hall one day for lunch or dinner, but apparently no such luck. He must have been here to see someone. It was highly unfair, but then, life was unfair like that a lot.

On Friday, when Jack went to band practice, the sky was cloudy and overcast. But that was alright – it was nice to be able to walk all the way to Aster’s house without getting sweaty and disgusting.

Halfway through their practice session, it started to rain gently. Tooth left early again, to get to another evening class.

Aster tilted his head to listen to the rain. “Pissing down out there,” he said.

Jack nodded. “Yeah, I’ve heard worse.”

“Want to jam for a while? See if it gets a little lighter?”

“Sure.” Jack clipped the strap back onto his guitar and slung it back over his head.

They played for a while, but the rain only got heavier. The occasional vehicle went past outside, cars, a motorbike once or twice. Eventually, they stopped, Jack’s fingers stiff and a little sore from playing so long.

“Well, looks like that was a bust,” Aster said.

Jack shook his hand out, trying to stop the stinging. “One more?”

Aster shook his head. “Nah. It’s getting late. I don’t think the rain is letting up. You’d better get home before it gets any worse.”

Jack nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right. I think I’m about to take skin off my fingers anyway.”

“You bleed on my drums, you’re a dead man,” Aster said, pointing the drumstick at Jack.

Jack held up one hand. “I solemnly swear to only bleed on my own property and myself.”

“Good.”

Jack bundled up his guitar and waved to Aster. Aster took the inside door up to the house he shared with three other people, and Jack opened up the garage door to walk straight out onto the street.

As he locked the door, he heard the sound of a motorbike again. Then it stopped, just across the road.

Jack turned, and he stopped, too. The motorbike rider was taking his helmet off to reveal messy brown hair and two braids poking out behind his ears. He ruffled his hair up, but it didn’t make much of a difference – he was quickly soaked in the pouring rain.

It was the boy from outside the dorms.

“Hey,” he said, still fiddling with his hair.

“Hey,” Jack said. He tried to think of something else to say, but nothing was coming either to mind or to mouth. That wasn’t usually a problem – Jack had never had much of a problem talking, even when he hadn’t thought of anything good to say.

“I heard you practicing,” the boy on the bike said. “Sorry. I guess … I guess this is a bit weird, huh?”

Jack shrugged. “I, uh … maybe a little. But not, like, bad-weird!” he hastened to cover his mistake. Then, even as his mind screamed at him that it was a bad idea, he said, “I mean, I saw you outside the dorms the other day, when you were visiting, and I might have stared at you for a while. Now that’s bad-weird.”

He looked up at the other boy, sure that his traitorous face had gone beet red.

But the other boy only chuckled. “Right. I’ll … keep that in mind.”

“Jack, by the way,” Jack said, anxious to change the topic as quickly as possible, thrusting his hand out abruptly.

The boy glanced down at it, and grinned, making his lip piercings tug to one side in a way that made Jack follow them with his eyes. He couldn’t help it.

The boy took Jack’s hand in his own, leather, fingerless gloves meeting soaked skin. “Call me Hiccup,” he said.

That broke Jack’s reverie for a moment. “Hiccup? Really?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s not … your real name, is it?”

The piercings tugged to the side again. “Might as well be – nobody ever calls me anything else.”

“That’s uh … unfortunate?” Jack guessed.

“I guess. Makes for a great conversation piece, though.” Hiccup looked up, squinting. “Hey, are you as sick of getting wet as I am?”

Jack honestly had forgotten about the rain. “Actually, yes.” He started calculating in his head the amount of space in his room, and what he’d have to move to pull his heater out to dry his clothes on. He didn’t trust the communal drying room with his favourite hoodie.

“Need a ride?” Hiccup asked. “I don’t have another helmet for you, though…”

He scooched forward on the seat as Jack hopped on behind him. “You better not crash,” Jack said.

 

~

 

At the other end of the drive, Jack had to take a moment to peel his arms from around Hiccup’s chest. Not, as he had expected when he got on the bike, because of any intention to be holding Hiccup for as long as possible, but because of sheer, plain terror. True to his word, Hiccup hadn’t crashed, but Jack had no idea whether they’d ever come close, because his eyes had been closed for most of it. Hiccup seemed to think that speed limits were more like guidelines, and corners were sudden, surprising things that had to be snuck up on and taken sharply at speed, lest they figure out what he was trying to do and move or something.

He sat back on the bike, leaning on his hands on the back of the seat, and breathed out slowly, while Hiccup dismounted.

Hiccup chuckled, and Jack looked at him.

“You alright?”

“Yeah.” Jack shook his head and pushed his hair back. “You drive like the boys I was warned about as a kid.”

“Progressive,” Hiccup commented.

“Well … I think my parents were more worried about me befriending them,” Jack said, with a sly grin. “But I think this counts.”

Jack noted with some satisfaction that Hiccup seemed to be at a loss for words for a moment before he managed to say, “I’ll have you know I can be respectable.”

“You have more metal in your lips than most people have in their phones,” Jack pointed out.

Hiccup shrugged and tucked his helmet under his arm. “You gonna get off? I need to put this away before we can go inside.”

“Oh, right.” Jack swung his leg over the motorbike and dismounted, knees feeling decidedly shaky.

He followed as Hiccup wheeled the bike over into the bike shed.

“I’d better … get back to my room,” Jack said. “Figure out how to dry these.” He plucked at the hoodie. Hiccup probably had to get back to whoever he was visiting. Jack had been so preoccupied with panicking and then flirting that he had completely forgotten that Hiccup was here to see somebody who was not Jack.

Hiccup grinned. “I’ve seen the rooms in the dorms. If you want, you can dry them at mine. I’ve got clothes I can lend you, and a big heater we can hang everything on.”

It suddenly dawned on Jack. “You … you live in one of the apartments, don’t you?”

Hiccup nodded. “Yeah, what did you think?”

“I thought you were …” Jack trailed off. “I didn’t realise you were postgrad. You look … young for it.”

Hiccup grimaced. “Started school early. Never really left. You’re still in undergrad?”

Jack shrugged. “Switched majors a couple of times. Dropped out of a few courses. I’ll get there in the end, I suppose.”

Hiccup nodded. “I get that.” He beckoned Jack, and they made their way across the dorm courtyard towards the postgraduate apartments. Jack had been eyeing them off for years – they were bigger rooms, and you didn’t have to share them, but they were reserved only for postgrad students, and some lucky undergrads with “exemplary” marks, and Jack was vehemently neither.

Hiccup unlocked the door and let them both in, closing it swiftly behind him. Jack chuckled. “People won’t care that much, you know.”

“Hm?” Hiccup looked confused.

“Uh … you looked in a bit of a hurry to close that door,” Jack said, but then his question was answered by a plaintive _mew_ and the sound of four feet hurrying towards them.

Hiccup bent down and scooped up the black cat with vivid green eyes, kissing it on the forehead, and letting it nuzzle his cheek. “Can’t let Toothless here get out,” he explained.

“We’re not supposed to have pets,” Jack said, knowing he was stating the obvious, but feeling a little like the rug had been pulled out from under him watching the leather-clad, pierced man who drove like he was possessed by a demon cooing over a contraband cat.

“You bothered by that?” Hiccup asked, not belligerently, but guardedly.

“If I’m still here after your horrible driving, then a cat’s not going to stop me. You said something about a heater?”

“Yeah!” Hiccup hurried over to turn on the heater, still holding the cat. “I’ll get you some spare clothes.”

 

~

 

Forty-five minutes later, after long, hot showers and new clothes – Hiccup’s ripped band shirt and sweat pants hanging loose on Jack’s slim frame – Hiccup and Jack sat together, watching the steam rise from their clothes on the coils of the heater. Hiccup had made them spiced hot chocolate, and Jack was finally starting to feel warm again.

“So … you heard us playing, huh?” Jack asked finally.

“Yeah,” Hiccup said. “You’re pretty good, you know. Do you play gigs?”

Jack shook his head. “Nah, we’re not that good. The others are too busy. We don’t even write our own songs.”

Hiccup shrugged. “You could be a cover band.”

Jack shook his head again. “Nah. That’s not really us, you know?”

“Suit yourself. So, you just get together and play?”

“Yeah. We’ve been playing since high school. It was a way to keep in touch after we all graduated.”

“That’s good, too,” Hiccup said.

“What do you study?” Jack asked.

“Engineering. Masters,” Hiccup said.

Jack whistled. “Damn. You must have put in some serious hard work.”

Hiccup shrugged. “No more than most. Well, as far as I can tell. Guess I get kind of absorbed in it.”

“Lucky,” Jack said. “I wish I could get absorbed in studying. Guess I’m just not cut out for school.”

Hiccup shrugged. “Nothing wrong with that. What are you studying?”

Jack wobbled a hand in the air. “Started off in science. Did a bit of chemistry. Aerodynamics. Switched to Arts, did some ancient history and some anthropology … now I’m doing a Media/Communications degree.”

“Wow,” Hiccup said. “So, you’d just about know a bit of everything by now.”

Jack shrugged. “Not enough about anything to pass the exams, though.”

“What do you want to do? After undergrad?”

“I always sort of wanted to be a teacher,” Jack said. “But you need a degree for that, and I’ve never stuck with any of them long enough. I guess I’m just going to tough out the Media/Comms till the end and then see what I need to do from there. It’s boring as hell, but I can’t really keep switching like this forever.”

“Yeah,” Hiccup said. “Well, teaching is good. Props to you for it – I could never teach.”

Jack shrugged. “Dunno about it either,” he said. “I’ll probably be horrible at it. But working with kids seems like it’d be up my alley.”

“You’ll be fine,” Hiccup said.

There was silence for a while, while they sipped their hot chocolate.

Then, Hiccup said, “How long you been playing guitar?”

Jack shrugged. “I guess since about fifteen.”

“That’s a long time.”

Jack laughed, a little bitterly. “I’m not good at it,” he said. “I never practice except in our band sessions, and barely at them, either. I haven’t gotten any better in about five years.

Hiccup paused, then got up, dropping Toothless off his lap. “Wait a sec,” he said, and moved into the bedroom.

He came back with two cases, and opened them up. A guitar and a bass.

“You play?” Jack asked.

“A bit,” Hiccup said. “Mostly the bass.”

“Nice,” Jack said, taking the offered guitar, putting his mug of hot chocolate on the little side table and lifting his legs up so that the guitar rested more comfortably on his lap. He plucked a few chords. Hiccup obviously played more than his offhanded “a bit” – the instrument was perfectly in tune.

Hiccup pulled the bass out and plucked at it, making a couple of adjustments.

Jack grinned at him and played a chord progression with a couple of embellishments, half the chorus of a song they’d been practicing.

Hiccup grinned back and played along on the bass, matching his tune and harmonising. They played together for a moment until Hiccup started to speed up, fingers dancing over the strings. Jack stopped playing, unable to keep up, and a little mesmerised by the look of concentration on Hiccup’s face. Hiccup continued for a couple of seconds, then stopped as well, looking up in surprise.

“What’s wrong?”

Jack laughed. “I’m not that good! Go easy on me.”

Hiccup flushed red. “Oh.”

Jack waved a hand. “Hey, don’t worry about it. Just show me how.”

Hiccup looked away and put one hand behind his head. “I guess … mind if I move a little closer? So I can, uh, see what your fingers are doing?”

Jack tried to act nonchalant. “Hiccup, you teach me to play like that, and I’ll sit on your lap if you like.”

Hiccup turned an enticing shade of red, but shuffled a little closer, and they played into the afternoon, legs entwined on the too-small couch. When Jack finally left to go back to his dorm room, it was with a new contact in his phone, weekend plans, and a soft kiss that tasted slightly of metal lingering still.


	5. Forbidden Love AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack is immortal, and Hiccup is old and dying.
> 
> Note: Chapter will very definitely contain death.

It had been a very long life. Longer than most. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock, third of his name, Chief of Berk, befriender of dragons, was lying in bed, grey hair pooling on the pillow. Toothless, older now, too, but not so old as Hiccup, hadn’t left the bedside in days. He knew what was happening, and so did Hiccup.

It was late at night, but Hiccup wasn’t asleep. For the last few months he had done very little except sleep, but this week, he’d barely slept at all. The part of his mind that had always been responsible for what little poetry and whimsy he was prone to told him that he was trying to get the most hours possible out of his last few days. One last stretch of lucidity to send off his life.

Nobody else was in the room but him and Toothless. He still got visits from Astrid, though she was old herself. He had told her often that she didn’t need to spend so much effort and time pulling herself up the hill to see him, but she’d waved him away. What else, she’d asked him, did she have to do these days?

That was true of all  of them, really. Hiccup longed for the blacksmith’s forge, for old Gobber’s teasing. He’d tried, a little while ago, to go back and make a new saddle, like he had when he was a child, but none of his friends were there anymore, popping in and out to say hi. Snotlout was gone. Fishlegs was gone. The twins were still around, still coming to visit him, with an energy that Hiccup found refreshing. He was a little glad that he was going before them. Seeing them old and bedridden would have turned Hiccup’s world on its head. They were full of energy, always. It just wasn’t right that they would one day run out of energy and just … die.

Despite this, despite those still around, the blacksmith’s forge felt … odd. At first, the young Vikings were deferent. He spent hours answering questions and giving advice, talking about leather flex and metal stress and the heat of the forge and all those things. And then, when they were done, he’d had time to work on his own project. But his hands were slower than they had used to be. The new smiths and apprentices rushed around him, and past him, and eventually he’d left with the job half-done. He didn’t go back. The blacksmith forge wasn’t his anymore – maybe it was time to let it go.

He reached down and patted Toothless. The skies hadn’t been his for a long time, either. His joints were too old for flying now. Their last flight had been … transcendent. Toothless flew slowly, concerned for his aging friend, but for days after that, his hips had ached and his arms had been shaky for days. That was a month ago now.

And then the door opened quietly, and closed. Hiccup looked up.

“Hey,” a familiar voice said, soft and cautious.

“Hey,” Hiccup said back.

There came a sigh of relief. “Oh, good. Didn’t wake you up, did I?”

Hiccup shook his head, then realised that the gesture probably couldn’t be seen in the darkness. “No. Haven’t slept much lately.”

“That’s no good,” the voice said, light and airy, but hiding a heaviness underneath it. “Sleep is important.”

Hiccup chuckled, but made no other answer. The owner of the voice walked into the one shaft of moonlight from the window near the bed.

Jack Frost looked exactly the same as he had the day Hiccup had met him. Young, so slender that he was even small compared to Hiccup, the talking fishbone, wearing brown. His hair was white, his eyes were bright, bright blue. As he walked into the room there was a slight chill, but that had never bothered Hiccup. He lived in Berk after all, where it snowed nine months of the year, and hailed the other three. A little cold breeze was nothing compared to that.

“Come sit down,” Hiccup said, pointing to the chair beside the bed, where visitors sat to talk to him, now in hushed voices, pain in their eyes no matter how much they tried to hide it. Jack had the same look. But then, Jack had never been good at hiding what he felt, no matter how much he covered it with laughter.

Hiccup reached over and patted his hand. “You came in the end,” he said.

Jack made a ‘pfft’ noise. “Of course I came! How could I not?”

Hiccup shrugged. “Can’t be pleasant,” he said.

“Doesn’t matter,” Jack said. “I made you a promise once, remember?”

Hiccup did remember it. “We promised each other.”

“Yeah,” Jack said. “Too bad …” he trailed off and looked down.

“Guess I’m never getting to pay you back for this one,” Hiccup said. “I’d say I’m sorry, but for once I don’t think this is my fault.”

Jack shook his head. “Great. Glad you’re still joking about this.”

“One of us has to. It’s like a game. My turn first. Your turn now.”

Jack chuckled. “I got nothing. You win.”

“Well, don’t go easy on me just because I’m dying.”

The word hung between them like ice bobbing down a river.

Jack shook his head again. “Should have known you’d leave me like this one day.”

“Unreliable. That’s me. Father always said so.”

“You were never good at listening to your father,” Jack said. Then he laughed a small, wretched laugh. “Sorry, Hic. This is a bit dark, even for me.”

“You’re supposed to be the cold one,” Hiccup said.

But Jack didn’t respond.

Hiccup reached a hand over and took hold of Jack’s cheek. “Hey. Look at me. It’s OK.”

“Everyone always warned me about this,” Jack said. “Aster, North, Tooth … even Sandy.”

“And me,” Hiccup said.

“I never listened to you,” Jack said, with a cheeky grin that looked more like a reflex than something that came from the heart.

“Yeah, I know. Part of your charm, right?”

“You know it.” Jack leaned his face into Hiccup’s face and kissed the palm with skin stretched tight and leathery over the bones and tendons. “Damn, Hiccup. I thought you were a fishbone when you were twenty.”

“Dad always got the last word,” Hiccup agreed.

There was a long silence, then Jack said, “Everyone warned me,” again. He’d never liked silence, Hiccup knew.

“I know,” Hiccup said.

“I knew this would happen,” Jack said. “But …”

“It only happens once,” Hiccup said softly. “No practice run for this. No matter how many times I nearly gave you a heart attack pulling stunts with Toothless.”

“That doesn’t count,” Jack agreed. “ It’s nothing like this.”

“No,” Hiccup said. “It’s nothing like this.”

The pain in Jack’s eyes as his face twisted up hurt like a knife. Hiccup reached his other hand over, and Jack grabbed it, intertwining their fingers and gripping so hard that their hands shook together.

“Why’d you stay?” Jack asked, finally.

Hiccup’s answer died on his tongue. It wasn’t the question he’d been expecting. He’d expected an accusation – ‘why didn’t you break this off when you were still young so I don’t have to go through this?’ – but no, it was plaintive. ‘Why did you stay, when you would have been happier with someone else?’

“What?” Hiccup asked, having trouble figuring out what Jack could mean by that. “What do you mean? I love you, that’s why I stayed.”

Jack’s grip got somehow tighter. “I love you, too. I love you so much … but I’m the worst person you could have been with, Hiccup.”

“How? Jack, you were the best I could ever have asked for.”

“I just … there was so much we never shared. I never got older. I didn’t get aches and pains like you. We never shared friends. They could never see me! You had to lie to them … all your life, you lied to them for me. You … you could have had someone who could be there for you like they were. But you stayed with me instead.”

“You were worth it,” Hiccup said quietly.

“I just … I still can’t believe,” Jack said, tears now pouring down his face, swallowing between words as if he could push the sobs down and continue talking. “Even when nobody would believe you. Even when they would have thought you were hallucinating or lying … even then, you still … you still chose me. I can’t … it’s been sixty years and I can’t believe it, Hiccup.”

“Hey,” Hiccup said soothingly. “I love you, Jack Frost. You were worth every second.” He pushed Jack’s hair behind his ear, gripped his hand back. “I’m real, OK? All of that time was real. I stayed with you because you were the best thing that ever happened to me. Got that?”

Jack shook his head. “But I … you …”

“No,” Hiccup said, putting his old, bony finger to Jack’s lips. “Listen – I’m not going to be here to tell you you’re worth it anymore, so I need you to do it for me, OK? Next time you want to think that I should have left, or would have been happier without you, you need to remember me telling you that, OK? Promise me you’ll try?”

Jack nodded, eyes closed, but unable to stem the tears. “I promise, Hiccup. I’ll … I’ll try, I promise.”

Hiccup nodded. “Good. Hey.” He poked Jack in the cheek. “Open your eyes.”

Jack sniffed, wiped his nose, and then opened his eyes, big and blue and still drowning in tears.

Hiccup gave him a sad grin, and said, “You were the best imaginary boyfriend anyone could ever have. Got that?”

Jack laughed. “Yes, Chief. Got it.”

“Good. Now, let go my hand a little. I can’t feel my fingers.”

Jack loosened his grip, but didn’t let go.

Toothless made a sad noise and came to rest between them, head on the bed. They chuckled, and rested their free hands on Toothless’s head.

Hiccup felt his eyes drooping, but strangely, he didn’t feel that tired. Suddenly, it felt like his mouth was full of sheep’s wool. With a tongue that felt heavy and numb, he said, “Stay for a while, Jack?”

He didn’t see whatever response Jack gave, but he did hear Jack said, “As long as you need, Hic. I’d stay forever if you needed me to.”

Hiccup wanted to smile. He might have managed it, but he was never quite sure.

 

~

 

It was Astrid who found Hiccup in the morning, when she came for her regular visit. She immediately left and got Ruffnut and Tuffnut, to help her prepare the body. As the three of them stood in Hiccup’s doorway while Toothless sat with his head on the bed, whining occasionally, Ruffnut said, “Guess we’d better start.”

“Look at his hand,” Tuffnut said. “Must have just rolled over and … died.”

Astrid squinted a little at Hiccup’s hand, fingers curled in on themselves. “Looks like he was trying to hold someone’s hand.”

“Maybe he was seeing things,” Ruffnut said gently. “That’s how our Dad went.”

“Looks like it was a good someone to see,” Tuffnut said. “Brr. It’s cold in here. Let’s get him sorted out before he starts to stink.”

Ruffnut punched him. “Show a little respect!”

“Come on,” Tuffnut said. “You know he’d have laughed.”

Astrid rolled her eyes and made her way over to the bed, but after a moment, she said quietly, “You’re right, Tuffnut. He would have laughed.”

As they approached, Jack Frost, tears frozen on his cheeks, finally prised his fingers out from between Hiccup’s. His part was done. There was nothing more he could do for Hiccup. His friends would have to manage the funeral, and there was nothing he could do to help.

As he went to leave, Toothless looked at him, and they shared a single nod of understanding.

Then Jack Frost flew away into the winter morning.


End file.
